


All The Things You Love

by pinkvelvet



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Genre: Angst, Canonical Child Abuse, F/F, Past Child Abuse, Self-Harm, its lowkey but its there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 21:13:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16688932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkvelvet/pseuds/pinkvelvet
Summary: She felt drained, could feel her her body sag as she finally got the words out. She spoke, now softer and far more tired, “Why wasn’t what they did to me enough to make you leave?”Adora left because she couldn't stand what the Horde was doing to others. Catra wants to know why she could stand what was being done to her.





	All The Things You Love

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a Tumblr post (I'll link it if I can find it, but I only saw screenshots of it on Twitter) about how Catra was really upset about Adora caring more about what the Horse did to random civilians than what they did to her and it made me feel things, so I wrote about them. No one beta read this so sorry for any mistakes ;0!
> 
> EDIT: [Here's the post!](http://crazy-pages.tumblr.com/post/180262751959/why-catra-makes-me-cry) Thank you PinkGuy :)

It seemed like no matter what, they never moved. All the fights, the battles, the push and the pull, when it was all said and done they always ended up right back where they started. They’d been running circles around one another ever since Adora had left, and this time was no different. 

Rolling to the side to avoid a swing from She-Ra’s sword, Catra used the momentum to push off of the ground claws bared. Seeing the attack coming, but not having the time to block it, Adora leaned back and away from the hands coming towards her. She stumbled when Catra hit her, and the two tumbled to the floor, sliding.

Righting herself atop Adora, Catra once more went for her face, who in return caught her hands before they could make contact. Catra snarled. “Everywhere I turn, you’re there trying to save the day. Just for once, give it a _rest_ , Adora!” Ripping her hands from Adora’s grasp, she sprang back off of her, settling in to attack once more.

“You know why, Catra. You know what you’re doing, what the Horde is doing, is wrong.” She stood and made her way to the sword that had slid further away in their fall. Catra watched her grab it from the floor, wary as she slowly made her way over to her. “They’re hurting people, Catra. You don’t need to stay with them. You can come with me, join the Resistance. You can-.”

Catra tuned her out. She had heard this before, more than once. Every single time it was the same thing. _The Horde hurts people. They ruin lives._ It was always the same speech, the same excuse. She felt a sting in her palm, and realized she’d been clenching her fist, claws digging in. She was tired of this, of hearing the same thing over and over but never hearing the one thing she wanted. The reason why Adora...the reason-

“Why?” The word hung in the air, Adora’s speech cut short. Catra was not looking at her, though she could feel the questioning gaze directed her way. She was still looking at her hands, at the fresh cuts on her palm. In her head she heard the single word repeated, _why why why why why._

She looked up.

“Why did it take seeing other people being hurt for you to realize what they were doing?” Adora opened her mouth to speak, her name on the tip of her tongue, but Catra cut her off once more. “Why did you need to see others going through the same things I did for you to understand what the Horde was doing?”

Catra looked back down at her hand, running her fingers over the crescent shapes left behind by her claws. She felt her feet move without thinking about it, forward until she was standing in front of Adora, looking up at the face she’d known for years, the face of her oldest friend, of the woman she-  


“Shadow Weaver tortured me, Adora,” ignoring the sharp intake of breath Catra continued, “She lied to you and she manipulated you, she lied to and manipulated everyone. But she tortured me. And you never saw.” Something strange happened to her voice as she said the last few words, and Catra realized that it was because she was crying. The only noise as she paused was the soft sound of her tears landing on the floor. 

She pressed on. “You never saw or- or you saw it and didn’t care.” she knew as she said it that wasn’t true. Even after she’d abandoned her, left her alone in the Horde, Adora would never have ignored something like that. 

“But even if you didn’t see it, it still happened. Mistake we made, every drill we missed, every prank we played, I got punished for. For years. The Horde hurting people? It isn’t news to me, Adora. I lived that.” 

She stopped again. Was she still crying? She couldn’t tell. She felt drained, could feel her her body sag as she finally got the words out. She spoke, now softer and far more tired, “Why wasn’t what they did to me enough to make you leave?”

Movement in the corner of her eye caused Catra to look up. She saw Adora reach for her, tears on her face as well and she saw her open her mouth to speak. But before she could get anything out, a wall of the room exploded, showering them in dust and debris. 

Catra shut her eyes and ducked and, when she didn’t feel anything hit her, looked up to see Adora standing above her, shield blocking them from the fallout of the explosion. They made eye contact for a split second, and Adora looked so hopeful that Catra almost thought she’d give in and join her. 

But then she heard gunfire and a voice that sounded suspiciously like Scorpia yelling orders to soldiers. With one final look to Adora, Catra turned away and ran into the settling dust.


End file.
